Rivalry Week did little to alter the Top 25 this week.
In fact, all 25 teams from last week's ranking remain in this week's ranking, although there were a few slight shuffles in order.
This past week, the final week of public school regular-season play, featured several of the state's longest-standing rivalries, including City-Poly, Fort Hill-Allegany, North Hagerstown-South Hagerstown and Frederick-Thomas Johnson. The only one of those Rivalry Week games with any state-ranking implications was Fort-Hill-Allegany, and Fort Hill won to retain its dominance in the once-even series.
North Point closed out the regular season with a 37-0 victory over Westlake, marking North Point's seventh shutout this season. The 4A-3A state title favorite moved up to No. 10 this week after former No. 10 Georgetown Prep lost a league match to Episcopal School (Va.). Prep's loss also allowed Fort Hill to inch a spot higher, moving from No. 12 to No. 11. Prep settled in at No. 12, just ahead of Loyola Blakefield, which it defeated early in the season.
After that, there was no ranking change until No. 19. Last week's No. 25 Calvert upended then-No. 19 Patuxent. That result sparked the following movement as Perry Hall jumped up to No. 19, followed by Calvert, Riverdale Baptist and Patuxent. Old Mill, Broadneck and Winston Churchill all slipped a spot to settle into the No. 23, 24 and 25 positions, respectively.
The public school playoffs start this week, and all of the state-ranked MPSSAA programs are heavily favored, that's if they are even playing. A number of top MPSSAA teams are idle this week as either they are in regions with only seven teams and thus received a regional quarterfinal bye or the team they were supposed to face withdrew from the playoffs.
The most intriguing matchups this week are exclusively among the private schools. No. 3 Archbishop Spalding, which survived an overtime scare from No. 13 Loyola Blakefield last week, takes on No. 14 Mount St. Joseph, which is on a hot streak. Also, No. 17 Bishop McNamara, which needs a win this week to break its lengthy playoff drought, has a difficult task in facing top-ranked Good Counsel.
This is the final state ranking or the regular season. The next state poll will be released after the second round of regional play, right before the state quarterfinals.
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